Other Australia for dummies? What on earth am I doing.. 07.01.2009

must say that all the people i know that have done australia where a bit "meh" about sydney...melbourne being much more preferaable...

 

but did they do the typical boring arse well known tourist haunts , or the kinda stuff you only know about from knowing a Sydney native? because being the native myself i can tell you the touristy places can get pretty boring the best places are the ones known to those been here awhile, like the train trip north to gosford for the day from sydney its beautiful early morning/evening, or a few coastal walks or hidden lookouts in the blue mountains and the best night clubs and pubs that arent tourist spots etc etc its the same for traveling anywhere tbh if you know natives its much more fulfilling

Melbourne is just one of those cities that tries too hard to be european, which really is quite stupid imo, we aren't europe (hell look at the history we got sent here from europe because its as far away as possible lmao) if we wanted europe we'd go there etc, its like traveling across the world and skipping the local cusine and customs etc and going straight to the nearest global fast food chain to eat its kinda dumb to most Australians i know , even if they love Melbourne they tend to agree on that point

 

Ofcourse I'm gonna go to sydney as well. The thing just is that right now I only have tickets that take me to my uncle's. From there on I have see what I'm want and can afford to do.. Cannonball run in Thredbo is tempting for a cyclist like me.

I'm still open to suggestions of what to do, where to go, where to stay and how to do it all on budget.

 

Mate well in that case feel free to drop me a PM or whatever if you wanna ask some questions about Sydney or Australia in general and ill point you the right direction

And threadbo isnt that far from melbourne at all , a few hours drive essentially

and when it comes to budget there are lots of backpacker hostels around the place that are pretty cheap for the night if you dont mind sharing a room with a bunch of strangers and sleeping in bunks , but with the military experience you've got i dont see that being a problem

 

We don't drink Fosters here, we export it to the UK.

We drink Coopers Pale Ale or Coopers Sparkling Ale.

If you like scenery, bush walking etc then try Kakadu or Catherine Gorge.

You say you want to go to a warm climate, lucky you will be coming at the end of February as that is the end of summer, we get temperatures in the 30's to 40's (C), if you want really hot go to Marble Bar in Western Australia, they get into the high 40's.

Get a work permit and you will find plenty of fruit picking jobs.

 

I have the working holiday visa all sorted out, so that's not a problem.

And I actually knew about the Fosters is the brand not sold to new zeland btw?

And about the climate.. I DO arter all live at the arctic circle, so my definition of warm seems to vary a bit from yours In january-february it's likely to be -20c or less, so anything above zero will be just fine..

 

lol just dont be suprised by how hot it gets here mate , but luckily for you melbourne being down south usually results in it not being quite as hot for as long as it is up north , the further north you go in summer the hotter your going to get

And there's plenty more Aussie beers than Coopers etc , give Toohey a try, VB is pretty **** but Tooheys extra dry, or tooheys news/pils etc are good depending on the type of beer you rather but try em all its worth it mate haha

As for who own fosters , who cares its their problem

 

WoW! Australia is my favorite place, I'm planning to stay a month in the coming week

 

With the D-day surprisingly quickly closing, I have a funny feeling that I should start making some sort of plans for the trip...

So far my only real plan is that I'll try to see the east coast. First I'll come to Melbourne where the weather should be pretty decent at late february(?) and from there I'll head to Sydney where I'll again stay for X amount of time. At this point if I have a job then I'll try to make as much money as possible and if I don't have then I've failed at life and will have to think of something else. From Sydney again I'll head up north (the rainy season should be over...) to Brisbane and maybe even Cairns.

But the question remains: what should I see there? I'm currently sick and have all the time in the world to sit on the computer and just browse through the internets, but I just don't know where to start. Also does someone know a site where there would be a huge event calendar? Music and other festivals would be a great way to decide dates when to be in a certain location.

I would also love to hear from Australia-visitors what they thought were the highlights of the east coast.. I know this isn't the best forum in the world to ask for this stuff, but it's worth trying Also CHEESECAKE FOR EVERYONE! Thanks for your interest.

 

Buy a Lonely Planet guide and work from there. It's not the end all, but a good start when you have no clue.

 

Hahn is where its at. Tooheys close second I would say. But Im german, so what do I know about beer

/sneaky edit.

I like both Melbourne and Sydney, but for some reason prefer the latter. Fish markets early in the morning was always a great place to see, the various beaches, or just getting lost in town as a "tourist"

Inbetween theres not much, well Canberra, but as I said not much. Maybe worth a day or two if you are interested in a "fake" town with lots of goverment buildings, etx. They have lots of national parks everywhere, all have some great camping spots (well the ones I have visited) so if you want to see australia on the cheap, go camping! especially in their nice weather. Then again that would require getting a car (can be cheap over there) rather then taking the greyhounds up and down the coast which is also cheap. (Not sure how much it costs now, but 4 years ago it was cheap.)

Never been to Perth, but the 5 years I lived over there went up and down the East coast and there was plenty too see. Seasonal work wise, I guess it depends on your location. If you go Adeleide ways you could be picking grapes (perhaps!?!?)

Good luck and enjoy the beautiful land Down under. (Oh, Rainbow beach near Noosa is nice too btw...)

 

Thread revival - I'm here.

http://jipaoverseas.wordpress.com for info and images.

And turns out the VB indeed is pretty bad Atleast I don't like it at all.

 

Hehe I managed to bring 2 empty bottles of Tooheys extra dry platinum back to NL with me Got them standing on my desk xD


I was in Australia with x-mas and new years (2007/2008). And I have also fallen in love with the country. I do have strong feelings I should move over there and start my new life, but as of now, that will most likely not happen yet.

Anyway, I was in Sydney for 5 days (family visit) and we went to see the city (ofcourse), an animal park (what a surprise ) and we went to see "the Three Sisters" which was quite awesome. Ofcourse I went to the beach, local shopping malls and stuff like that. We also took the Sydney Ferries to go to another place (can't quite recall what it was called) I only had 5 days in Sydney so we pretty much tried to do as much as possible. One tip, Kings Cross is amazing

Three Sisters photo I took:


After that I spend 8 days at a friend in Brisbane, we went to Steve Irwin's Zoo, went clubbing in Brisbane for 2 days (31st/1st), and just literally did something every day. Was amazing. 2 weeks really isn't long enough to see everything you want, and I wish I had made it an one-way-ticket, but oh well

EDIT: Hmm I saw you are already there, I really envy you for that. I hope one day I can do the same

 

Yeah it really was a "now or never" moment for me as well.. Still had money left from graduation presents and summer job, didn't have a job or own home to worry about, etc... Just did it. I've been in Melbourne for almost four weeks now, and really been enjoying myself. If I ever feel bored/down I can just think it would be -20 C in Rovaniemi and it instantly cheers me up The weather alone was worth coming here for, but I'm really looking forward to Sydney (and Brisbane/where ever I'll go from there)...

New pics coming to the blog every two days or so.. I know my family members are reading the blog, so unfortunately not too much about beer going to be released